Sennheiser RS170/Motherboard Audio Hissing

[BPTMatthew]

Hi,

I recently purchased a pair of Sennheiser RS170 wireless headphones to use for gaming/listening to music on my PC. As soon as I set them up I noticed a hissing noise when my system is completely idle. I have also found that turning the bass boost off helps with the noise when the system is completely idle but is still present when navigating through folders/listening to music quietly.

I have tried the headphones unplugged and there is no noise (so it isn't wireless interference) and in my tablet, which also has no hissing noise.

At the moment I'm using the on-board audio on the Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 (Rev 4.0) motherboard, and was wondering if a dedicated sound card would fix my problem.

Many Thanks,

Matt

 

[techgeek]

So a different sound source improves or eliminates the hissing. It's very possible that it's digital noise from the motherboard causing it. Have you tried another set of headphones on your computer, this would give you a definite answer.

If the noise is a result of the onboard sound, it would certainly improve with a sound card. Sound cards are designed with better shielding, filtering, usually high quality DAC's and OP-AMPs. They are also physically removed from the same plane as the motherboard. Sound cards are designed for one function, whereas the sound on the motherboard is one of many functions and not the most important function. Certain motherboards have excellent sound due to a conscience design effort to isolate the circuitry from the digital portion of the motherboard.